This is no celebrity vanity project, but a well-researched, rollicking historical mystery.

In my Justice League book tag, I mentioned the leaps and bounds that Mycroft Holmes takes in escaping its slow start. Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a self-confessed Sherlock Holmes nut. It’s clear he treated this story about Sherlock’s older brother Mycroft seriously, with meticulous nods to Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle’s original work and to period details. This book could have degenerated into an Easter Egg hunt, but instead, Adbul-Jabbar and writing partner Anna Waterhouse took chances with their creativity. What could have been lazy tribute went to places far beyond Conan Doyle’s own imagining. And it’s all packaged in an engaging mystery read.

Oh yeah, and the over/under on basketball references in this review is 1.5.